played with Emilie Melville's company in San Francisco. He returned to Australia and took parts in light operas such as Gaspard in Les Cloches de Corneville and Pippo in La Mascotte. His reputation was, however, not fully established until he began to play in Savoy operas with the J. C. Williamson company, with whom he remained for thirty years. In 1881 he played his first such role, taking over the principal comic part of Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance. He next played Sir Joseph in the company's revival of H.M.S. Pinafore. He originated the part of Bunthorne in Patience later the same year to glowing reviews. The Brisbane Courier said of his Bunthorne, "Competent judges say that he is the best representative of the part who has ever appeared, and that his appreciation of the grotesque humour of it is better from an artistic point of view than that of the original performer." In addition to Gilbert and Sullivan productions, in 1882, he appeared as Captain Flapper in the comic opera Billie Taylor, and in the title role in Rip van Winkle in 1883. Vernon's first Ko-Ko in The Mikado was in Williamson's 1885 production. He played Sir Marmaduke in the company's The Sorcerer in 1886 and King Hildebrand in Princess Ida in 1887. The Otago Daily Times wrote in 1887 of his Ko-Ko that he "specially shines in his treatment of those lyrics which depend much upon enunciation and bye-play for their effect." He also finally played the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe in 1887. The same paper commented, "Nothing could be more refinedly humorous than Mr Vernon's Lord Chancellor. ... His conscientious gravity was alternated ... with a wild friskiness that would have appalled Chancery Lane. His excruciating glance supplied the funny element in the trio 'If you go in'." Later years Among other operettas and revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, over the next years, Vernon played in Erminie in 1887. He was in the company's first production of Olivette in 1888. In 1889, he originated the role of Wilfred Shadbolt in Australia's first production of The Yeomen of the Guard. In some revivals he played different roles from those he had first played. For instance, in 1889, he played Captain Corcoran in a revival of Pinafore. In 1890, he started the year in a pantomime of Cinderella and later played Squire Bantam in Dorothy. Later